Marian Anderson: My Lord, What a Morning

Essential Quotes

“I could see that my significance as an individual was small in this affair. I had become, whether I liked it or not, a symbol, representing my people. I had to appear.”

“All I knew then as I stepped forward was the over-whelming impact of that vast multitude. There seemed to be people as far as the eye could see. The crowd stretched in a great semicircle from the Lincoln Memorial around the reflecting pool on to the shaft of the Washington Monument. I had a feeling that a great wave of good will poured out from these people, almost engulfing me.”

“The essential point about wanting to appear in the hall was that I wanted to do so because I felt I had that right as an artist.”